Oracle of Ages (Linked game) high playthrough log 1/4

After the bad ending of Oracle of Seasons, Twinrova now has the Flame of Destruction. Now they only need the flames of Sorrow and Despair to complete their dark rites...

The password from the end of OoS creates a Linked game in Oracle of Ages. All of the rings and other stuff Link had at the end of that game are carried over.

The Triforce sends Link to Labrynna next to save the Oracle of Ages, Nayru. Impa is already there and is being attacked by Octoroks, and the Octoroks immediately run away as Link shows up.

A bunch of animals are standing around, completely absorbed in Nayru's song...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQK8P0lsA58
I could listen to this forever.

It turns out Impa was possessed by the villain... Veran, Sorceress of Shadows... Veran comes out and then possesses Nayru. Nayru's friend Ralph tries to save her but he's too late. Veran can now freely travel through time, and create the age of darkness... she starts changing history, and a bunch of people get turned to stone.

Link already has a sword when you start the game, so there's no need to go to Nayru's house in the Forest of Time in the east.

This game has much more interesting story than OoS... Also a family from Holodrum moved here to Lynna City and their story continues where it left off in OoS. Also the Maku tree in this game is a girl, with very obvious girly facial features.

There's a Hero's Cave here too, just like in the beginning of OoS. Except this Hero's Cave is a really tough end-game dungeon
meant for after you get all the dungeon items.

Ralph showed Link how to go through time portals to get back to the past. The past world and the present world are similar, but different in a lot of ways. Certain paths are open in one era and closed in another era, waterway structures are different, etc...

Ever since Nayru came to this era, the sun never sets. The postman complains

How can I deliver the mail on time if I don't know the time

The people of Lynna City in the past are being forced to work on building Ambi's Tower 24/7... They say this tower is being made to guide Queen Ambi's lover back to her, but now everyone's starting to hate this tower, and they've started calling it the Black Tower.

The path to the Maku Tree in the past is a little

Oracle of Seasons high playthrough log 3/3

The overworld treasure map that I got recently, shows the location of the 4 jewels needed to enter the Tarm Ruins. This place kinda reminds me of the LttP's eastern ruins combined with the northern region of Zelda 1.

A lot of the hidden secrets you find in this game are passwords,
that you're supposed to use in the OoA linked game to get the actual
reward.

To the left of there is the entrance to the Lost Woods... this place is cool, it's kinda like the Zelda 1 Lost Woods, except the 4 seasons are part of the puzzle. You have to go west, south, east, north, with each step leading to a warmer tempurature...

There was a cutscene showing that there's another evil lurking in the shadows behind the game's main villain, Onox. It seems like something bigger is going on here...

If you save Din, the world will be filled with destruction, sorrow, and despair, a great sacrifice will be offered, and the Evil King will be revived!

I think I know what this implies...

• If you're playing a non-linked game: Link saves Din, but Zelda gets sacrificed and Ganon is fully revived, which leads to the Zelda 1/AoL story.
  

*]If you're playing a linked game: Link travels through time to save both Din and Nayru, and Ganon's resurrection fails and is easily defeated, which leads to a different scenario.

Got the Noble Sword... and the Lost Woods also lead to another section of the Tarm Ruins, which lead to...

Level 6 - Ancient Ruins... kinda shaped like a pyramid I guess.. each floor up gets smaller and smaller.

That compass was hard to get to... damn beamos...
Most of the dungeons in this game seem like more action oriented than anything. Most of the challenge is from the puzzles. Actually figuring out where to go is easy. Kinda a lot like Zelda 1. The boss of this level is Manhandla.  Hardest boss yet... Got the 6th essence, Blowing Wind.

Sweet fruit is born when pollen is carried by the Blowing Wind!

Finished Subrosia's big trading quest and got the L-2 armor... that would've made the 6th dungeon way easier if I had done that earlier lol

4 Golden Beasts sidequest... How were you supposed to do this without a guide? If you dry up the lake near the 1st dungeon, you find a staircase leading to an old man who tells you about these 4 rare gold enemies that are

Oracle of Seasons high playthrough log 2/3

I like how the Subrosia portals kind of act as shortcuts to get you around Holodrum faster. Although you have to know your way around really well to make use of this.

There seems to be a good amount of sidequest content that you can do in both Holodrum and Subrosia in between each dungeon. There's also the big trading quest that spans the entire game... you can either do each little bit of it as soon as you can (which I did), or save all of it for later. Just like the trading quest in Link's Awakening though, you do need to complete it eventually to progress...

Wow this is cool, there's an overworld treasure map... I think this is like the first time a Zelda game has had a map that helps you find where the overworld treasure is.

Sunken City... found Gale seeds, a very useful item that lets you teleport to other gale seed trees... got a bit lost in this area... got to a fairy fountain just when I was about to die.... found the Zora Flippers that let you swim and dive underwater.

Another Subrosia portal... some Subrosian kids took my feather, and had to do a stealth minigame to get it back... Found the skeleton pirates' ship stuck in the sand... and another way into the Temple of Seasons, gained access to the Tower of Spring... Also explored a bit of the north side of Holodrum where the Temple of Seasons used to be... this place looks really cool.

Found Bananas for Moosh at Mt. Cucco... this place is a bit puzzley to navigate...

Level 4 - Dancing Dragon Dungeon... the middle floor is kinda similar to the nazi symbol dungeon in Zelda 1.

This level was pretty tough, but mostly just because of the enemies and obstacles. Those Stalfos and Wizzrobes are tough... Also, Agahnim from LttP is a miniboss here... what? And the main boss is Gohma. It's weak to ember seed slingshot attacks instead of the bow + arrow.

Got the 4th essence, Soothing Rain.

Bathed in drops of Soothing Rain, shoots grow into saplings!

Found another way into the Temple of Seasons in Subrosia, and got the power of Autumn... then I was able to get to the next dungeon very easily... Wow, this "Eyeglass Lake" area, I'm pretty sure this is literally the same location as Level 1 in LoZ... the similarities are way too much... At this point

Oracle of Seasons high playthrough log 1/3

Link gets summoned by the Triforce to the land of Holodrum, where he meets a dancer named Din. Zelda foretold a curtain of shadow drawing around Din, and she instructed the nurse Impa to take Din to Hyrule.

Standard Zelda plot...
"You have a triangle on your hand, that means you have to help us."
Suddenly the bad guy Onox appears and kidnaps Din, who is actually the Oracle of Seasons, and the Temple of Seasons sinks into the ground.

Impa directs Link to go meet the guardian of Holodrum, the Maku tree... discount Deku tree.

The Hero's Sword is said to be hidden in the Hero's Cave

Got the Ring Box, not sure how to use it at this point... that's where the Know-it-all birds come in. Zelda always has these kind of characters, they're like an in-game NPC version of the instruction manual.

The Ring box holds rings, a special collectible that you can equip a few of to get some bonus buffs or other effects. A lot of the optional hidden treasures you can find in this game end up being rings.. or sometimes just restockable stuff such as seeds.

Found the Hero's Cave, a little minidungeon that contains the sword.

The Maku tree senses evil up at the Northern Peak, where the Temple of Seasons sank into the ground. To restore the power of the seasons, Link needs to collect the 8 essences of nature in Holodrum.

Level 1 - Gnarled Root Dungeon
Shaped like a spinning top or something...
The dungeons in this game feel very Zelda 1 styled. The cryptic old man hints, the diamond block pattern surround a staircase, the underground sidescrolling sections... it literally feels like a remake of a LoZ dungeon. It even has Aquamentus as the dungeon boss! Also the Twin Minotaurs miniboss is cool, kinda reminds me of an LttP boss..
Got the first essence, the Fertile Soil...

Seeds scattered across a bountiful lands are nourished in this Fertile Soil!

Found a portal that leads to this weird underworld area called Subrosia. All of the NPCs here are wearing mage cloaks.

Found some shipwrecked pirate skeleton in the desert...

I want to get back to all me mates and dig the ship free, but Cap'n said "Don't come back till ya find me bell"

I guess this is a sidequest for later...

A temple, like, fell into Subrosia! um... what's a temple? Subrosia is a secret place. I must return in secret without being seen.

This NPC